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YELLOW LOOSESTRIFE

NOMENCLATURE

Other Names: swamp candles

 Scientific Name: Lysimachia terrestris (L.) B. S. P.

Plant Family: Primulaceae

GENERAL INFORMATION

Botanical Description: herbaceous

 Stems: erect, simple but sometimes branched, 1 - 2 feet tall

 Leaves: opposite, lance-shaped, pointed, hairless, minimal petiole stem

 Roots:

Flowers: yellow and may have tiny red dots, five-petaled, 0.25 - 0.5 inches wide, usually borne on elongated flowering stalks on stem tips, some flowers on long pedicel stems in axils of the upper leaves, bloom July - September

 Seeds:

Seedling:

ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE

Dense stands compete with cranberry vines for sunlight.

LIFE CYCLE

Reproduction: perennial

 Propagation:

Dispersal:

DISTRIBUTION

State: Common throughout Wisconsin.

 National: Found in open swamps and wet soils east of the Mississippi River as far south as North Carolina.

 Origin:

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS

Prefers swamps, marshes, and wetlands. Common in cranberry beds as well as in wild marsh. Often invades along bed edges where herbicides have leached out, then spreads toward bed center. An insect of the stalk-borer group often depletes the population of this weed.

SCOUTING PROCEDURE/ET

While scouting a cranberry bed for disease and insect pests, identify weed populations as they arise. Note the specie(s) of weed present as well as the population level relative to field area. Example: 10% yellow loosestrife, 20% boneset and joe-pye weed mix.

REFERENCES

Dana, M. 1987. Cranberry Weeds in Wisconsin. Department of Horticulture, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Madison, Wisconsin. p. 27.

 

Gleason, H. A. 1952. Illustrated Flora of the United States and Adjacent Canada. Vol. 3. Lancaster Press, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. p. 38.

 

Kummer, L. D., T. G. Dittl, and T. D. Planer. 1993. Wisconsin Cranberry Weeds. Wisconsin Cranberry Board, Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. p. 11.

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